The Correct Answer is 5

Last Friday I went to my local Rite Aid in Detroit to pick up a bottle of soda. No big deal. I paid cash and the clerk printed out my receipt which included one of those "Call this number and do a survey to be entered into a drawing to win $10K!" at the end. The clerk hastily told me I didn't want to do the survey and tried to toss my receipt, but I thought that was strange and told her I DID want to do the survey (I didn't really care, but why was she so insistent that I not do it?)

The clerk then informs me that if I want to do the survey, I have to speak to the manager first, and I probably don't want to do that, do I? Are you serious? Yes, I have to speak to the manager if I want the opportunity to fill out a survey for Rite Aid. Well, now I am dying to know what is going on so I said, yes, I definitely wanted to do the survey and she promptly called in the manager.

In walks the manager who tells me I have been *randomly* chosen to fill out a survey for their store and he wants to know how my Rite Aid Experience was today. I said it was fine, I bought my soda, and that was it. He then went on to ask me if I was completely satisfied with my shopping experience that day, and I said, "Sure, why not." Mr. Manager then proceeds to tell me that if I was completely satisfied with my service and I did the survey, that the number for completely satisfied was "5" and I should select "5" if I was completely satisfied that day.

I left the store feeling a bit incredulous--was the manager actually trying to "sway" my score on my survey? I really, honestly do not care about these surveys, but the fact that this manager needed to speak to me before I would be "allowed" to complete my survey piqued my curiosity as to whether or not this was a Rite Aid "policy". I called the 1-800-Rite-Aid number to find out if this was indeed how they were supposed to run their surveys, and express my *concern* that if they really wanted to improve their scores, maybe they should improve their stores rather than just try to raise their survey scores by making customers speak to managers before they are allowed to complete the survey, not to mention I thought the practice unethical if this was truly to be an honest, *random* survey.

I really didn't expect any answer to my questions, but less than 2 hours after filing my *complaint* if you want to call it that, I received a call from none other than the district manager for the Rite Aid stores in my area who let me know that some of the stores which had been receiving lower scores were "encouraged" to have managers speak to customers who had received a survey to try to resolve any problems right away so that the customer is satisfied which in turn my have the effect of raising the scores for these stores.

So I had to protest further. Again, I said you cannot take a "random" survey, demand the people who receive this survey speak to the store manager before they can complete the survey, coach people how to answer the survey, and then claim you have improved your stores. If the manager is only choosing to speak to customers who receive surveys, only the customers whose opinion MIGHT be recorded in a survey will change. In fact, I told them, had I NOT had to speak to the manager, I would have rated the store a "5" as completely satisfied, but having to waste my time to speak to a manager BEFORE I can answer a 3-question phone-in survey compelled me to rate the store a "1" - completely dissatisfied - as I thought it was very unethical and missing the point of the survey in the first place. I would rather have the option on the survey to call in a complaint than to have to speak to a manager when I am trying to buy my Coke and then get to work on time.

Keep in mind here...I really really don't care...I was surprised anyone called me. I understand that Rite Aid managers may be pressured to "improve their scores" but seriously, is coaching a customer on the correct way to answer their survey the best way to improve customer satisfaction? Improving the scores this way obviously is not leading to improved overall customer satisfaction, but better scores probably mean life made easier for a manager in a store whose rating is normally low.

I was called AGAIN on Saturday by the store manager of this particular Rite Aid Store and was told this was in NO WAY their policy to MAKE a customer speak to a manager before they could complete their survey and that the clerk (oh! No!) was the one who made the mistake of telling me I had to speak to a manager in order to do a survey (yeah, right!) but now this clerk was properly coached on how she should "handle" this situation again. Sigh...I asked the manager if the clerk (who I see daily when buying my morning breakfast Coke) was reprimanded in any way because of this because I HAD NO PROBLEM WITH HER, but with the MANAGER of the store with whom I had to speak before being handed my receipt and survey, and he tried to assure me that she was not disciplined--merely "coached" as to how to handle this situation in the future. Great....thanks. I will feel bad if the person I deem to be the innocent party, the store clerk, was disciplined for doing what she was told to do (which I believe is the case as I could see how uncomfortable she was when trying to dispose of my receipt).

I have been to the same Rite Aid two times since Saturday and both times received my survey without any question from the clerk (not the same clerk in either instance as my Friday Rite Aid Experience.) I wonder if my calling actually made a difference? At least it made a little stir...Who knows...

However, if I am all of a sudden randomly selected to win $10K, I will be very suspicious. :)